Only one week left

So much to do, so little time! There is only one week until I have Christmas at my apartment with my kids. This year however, there will be a few additional guests which brings the grand total to 15 people, popping the seams to the walls in my apartment and I cannot wait. It will be a great time complete with total chaos, laughing and simply enjoying being with those I love.

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The Sleepy Eye Herald Dispatch

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Posted Dec. 6, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Posted Dec. 6, 2012 at 6:00 AM

Sleepy Eye, Minn.

So much to do, so little time! There is only one week until I have Christmas at my apartment with my kids. This year however, there will be a few additional guests which brings the grand total to 15 people, popping the seams to the walls in my apartment and I cannot wait. It will be a great time complete with total chaos, laughing and simply enjoying being with those I love.

The menu is planned and pretty simple. Nothing two crockpots and an oven can’t take care of.

Thanks to Schutz Family Foods, I got a great deal on our main course. Just add some cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole and the meal is set. Add to that, fresh buns, a few veggies, a splash of something refreshing to swallow it all down and you have a recipe for a wonderful meal and a nap immediately proceeding.

The kids thought we should shake things up a bit this year and move my TV and the Wii into the bigger living room and have a dance party. OK, I think that can be arranged. I just hope Jim and John Mielke don’t plan to work down stairs that day. Oh well... I’ll try to keep the chaos somewhat controlled.

Some of my favorite Christmas memories are from my Grandpa and Grandma Hoffman’s Christmases. We always celebrated the Danish tradition of singing Christmas songs, holding hands and going around the Christmas tree as a very large family. You talk about controlled chaos! Grandpa always had a handle on us all.

As a child it was usually new pajamas and a doll for the girls and pajamas and a tractor for the boys. There was paper, ribbons and bows flying everywhere as excited children couldn’t wait to unwrap the gifts they had been given. But one thing Grandma never did until every shred of that discarded paper, ribbon and bows had been gone through, and that was haul it to the trash. Sure enough, if there was one thing Grandma learned through the years, it was to wait until everyone was home and had gone through all the toys to make sure something hadn’t gone out mistakenly.

Yes, there is only one more week to finish shopping, wrapping and preparing but more importantly, only one more week before enjoying the company of those I hold closest to my heart.

Thought for the week: Gratitude is the memory of the heart. – author unknown.